Game apparatus.



'3. E. ALLEN. GAME APPARATUS.

(Application filed May 27, 1899.! N o M 0 d a l Rs co. Pnofmufiw, WASHINETON, n. c,

Patented Sept. 4, I900.

iinrrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. ALLEN, OF BUFFALO, NEW' YORK.

GAME APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 657,233, dated September 4, 1900. Application filed May 2'7, 1899. Serial No. 718,507. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it 71mg concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. ALLEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Game Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of game devices which comprise an upright board or front plate having a series of doorways or apertures through which marbles are adapted to be shot and independent pockets or GOIII- partments arranged on the rear side of said board and coinciding with said apertures, respectively, so that the marbles shot through the different apertures enter the pockets and are kept separate.

The object of my invention is to provide the apparatus with reliable trap=doors, which prevent the marbles from rolling out of the pockets after entering the same and also prevent the entrance of more than one marble into the same pocket, thereby enabling the correct number of successful shots and the number of points represented by each shot to be readily ascertained after a play.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of my improved game apparatus. Fig. 2 is a prose-section thereof, taken centrally through one of the marble apertures and pockets. Fig. 3 is a front view of the apparatus, partly in section, showing the trap-doors of two of the marble pockets tilted rearwardly.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the several figures.

A is the upright front board or wall of the apparatus, having the marble apertures or doorways a and bearing on its face above said apertures suitable numerals or characters a,denoting the number of points to which the player is entitled for shooting marbles through the respective apertures.

B represents an oblong box secured lengthwise to the rear side of the front board A and provided between the apertures a, with transverse partitions B, which divide the box into independent pockets B The board A forms the front wall of these pockets, and each pocket coincides with one of the apertures a, so as to receive the marbles shot through the same. The pockets are open at their upper ends, so that after ascertaining the number of points made by a player the marbles are read ily discharged from the apparatus by inverting the same.

The bottom B of the apparatus consists of a plate of tin or other thin material, which permits the marbles to roll freely over its front edge. I

y In each marble-pocket B is arranged a longitudinal trap-door or pivoted false bottom 0, over which the marbles roll after passing through the corresponding aperture a and whereby the marbles are prevented from rolling out of the pockets after once entering the same. Each of these trap-doors is pivoted between its ends upon a transverse rod or pivot d, which preferably passes through the side walls of the several pockets and through depending ears 6' of the trap-doors, so that the doors are capable of tilting forwardly, as shown by full lines in Fig. 2, or rearwardly, as shown by dotted lines in said figure. The trap-doors extend forwardly to or nearly to the inner side of the front plate A and rear wardly nearly to the rear walls of the pockets, so that a marble rolling up one of the trap-doors in the normal position thereof re verses or tilts the door to its rearwardly-inclined position as soon as the marble passes rearwardly beyond the pivot of the door, the marble resting on the rear portion of the door and holding the same in the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2. When in this position, the door resists the forward movement of the marble and prevents it from rolling out of the pocket. The portion of each trap door in front of its pivot is longer or heavier than the portion in rear of its pivot, so that the front portion overbalances the rear portion and normally turns the door-to its forwardly-inclined position. In the construction shown in the drawings the door-pivot is ofiset rearwardly out of the center of the door for this purpose. The door extends rearwardly so far that the space between its rear end and the rear wall of the pocket is narrower than the diameter of the smallest mar bles used in playing the game, so that a mar ble rolling over and tilting the door rests upon the rear portion of the door and against the rear Wall of the pocket, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2. In its rearwardly-tilted position the door also acts as a guard or oblique partition, which separates the front portion of the pocket from the rear portion in which the marble is confined and from which any succeeding marbles shot into the same pocket rebound, thereby preventing the entrance of more than one marble into the same pocket or into the portion of the pocket in rear of the rearwardly-tilted door. By keeping the different shots of the player separate and providing the pockets with reversible trap-doors O the number of points to which the player is entitled can be accurately determined and all dispute as to the particular pockets into which the marbles were shot is avoided. The players are credited with the sum of the points denoted by those apertures through which they have shot the marbles, and the player making the greatest number of points wins the game. The game consists, preferably, of fifteen points, and the various apertures a are so numbered that their sum is fifteen, the higher numbers being placed over the outermost apertures, into which it is more difficult to shoot a marble than into the intermediate ones.

I claim as my invention In a game apparatus having a series of pockets arranged side by side, each provided in the lower portion of its front Wall with an aperture for the admission of a marble, the combination with the pocket, of a trap-door arranged lengthwise in the pocket and pivoted transversely in a line higher than the bottom of said entrance-aperture, said trapdoor being overbalanced at its front end and supported normally in a position in which it ascends rearwardly from the bottom of the entrance-aperture and being tilted rearwardly by the marble passing upon the rear portion of the door and held in a backwardly-descending position by the marble resting against the rear portion of the door, substantially as set forth.

Witness my hand this 18th day of May, 1899.

GEORGE E. ALLEN. lVitnesses:

CARL F. GEYER, 'lHEo. L. PoPP. 

